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Menu @ cocktail hour and dinner

Priya490Priya490
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in South Asian Weddings
What are you serving (or what did you serve) at your cocktail hour and reception dinner?  We're thinking of serving some Indian and non-Indian foods at both the cocktail hour and reception dinner.  Half of our guests will be vegetarian so I was wondering how many non-veg foods I should offer.  Curious to see what everyone else is serving.  Thanks in advance!
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Re: Menu @ cocktail hour and dinner

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    kpwedkkkpwedkk member
    Combo Breaker First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I opened one of the bars -- it was out on the patio, for guests to get drinks from...

    For food, we did make your own chaat (channa/garbanzo, yogurt (this was in ice, so no adverse reactions, chopped cilantro, purple onions, diced tomatoes, chopped carrots, and minced cucumbers, tamrind and mint chutney, and those chaat chips, and some chaat powder -- there were several trays that the guests could make their own concoction :) ), veggie samosas, and a crisp green salad with all the veggies (made it delightfully colorful)

    We wanted to have a dosa maker, but this way, the things that needed to be hot stayed hot, and the cold items stayed cold, and we didn't want to have someone cooking before our guests like that...

    ETA: Dinner!  I forgot to add dinner to this post! LOL!

    For dinner, we did buffet style, with more salad, aloo tikki patties, and then a plethora of food from Chinese - Chowmein and Fried Rice, Guyanese / Indian- Dal Puri, and a Few curries, and my favorite - Italian - complete with bread, and two types of pasta - marinara based and alfredo based... we also made a tvp (textured vegetable protien) dish, which most people swore it tasted like chicken...

    As you can see, we did complete vegetarian - We also hosted a lunch for all the guests right after the wedding, and the reception/dinner which I mentioned above was 6 hours later...  which included 7 curries, puri, chapati, salad, chai, cofee, apple juice, and water for the guests, and dessert was prasad...

    For dessert @ dinner, we did a barfi table with ras malai, khee, and gulab jamun, and also included Caribbean Rum Cake :)  We didn't have a cake cutting so this sufficed.

    Hope that helps... I had an extraordinary wedding, and boy was it expensive!

    "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart." ~ Miss K ~
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    temurlangtemurlang member
    Combo Breaker First Comment First Anniversary
    edited December 2011
    You should do more than 50% veg.  We had about 25% vegetarians and we did half the passed hors d'oeuvres veg.  The dinner was 10 courses, and five were veg.  My assumption was that there had to be enough veg stuff for the 25% plus some because non-vegetarians will also eat part of it.  Also, in our case veg dishes might also be appropriate for people who eat Halal or don't have certain meats.

    Pakoras and some chaat items make excellent appetizers and are usually veg.  Most of the time when we go to Indian parties, all the food is veg except one chicken dish and I think probably half the people are veg all the time.
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    raangoliraangoli
    Combo Breaker First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I agree with Tem's suggestion to have more than 50% vegetarian since it's something both veg and non-veg people will eat and you want to make sure you have enough for the former.

    If you want ideas, here is what we had food-wise for the cocktail hour:

    Appetizers – Butler Pass

    Vegetable Samosa

    Paneer Shaslik

    Murgh Ambi Kebab

    Bruschetta

    Spanakopita

    Chicken Quesadilla

     COCKTAIL STATIONS

    Station #1

    Penne Pasta with Tomato Basil Sauce

     Station #2

    Paneer Kathi Kebab

     Station #3

    Vegetable Crudités with dips

    Here's the dinner menu:

    Pre Set on Each Table

    Garden Salad with Balsamic Vinegrette Dressing

    (Buffet Style)

    Peas Pullao

    Chicken Tikka Masala

    Lemon Herb Chicken

    Kadai Paneer

    Bhindi Masala

    Dal Makhani

    Assorted Breads

    (Naan & Lachcha Paratha)

     

    Kachumber Salad, Chickpeas Salad, Sliced Onions,Cucumber, Fried Chillies

    Boondi Raita

     Dessert

    Chocolate Mouse

    Rasmalai

    Wedding Cake



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    andamuandamu
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    We are exclusively veg (FI's family is Jain, so serving meat was never an option).

    Appetizers
    Aloo Tikki
    Veg Pakora
    Sweet Potato Fries w/Bourbon Molasses
    Mac & Cheese in Parmesan Cups
    Mediterranean Pizzette
    Chickpea Polenta Bites

    Salad
    Spinach Salad (plated)

    Stations
    Grilled Vegetables with Balsamic Glaze / Bruschetta
    Pita / Hummus / Babaganoush
    Antipasto Station: Mozzarella, Olives, Flatbreads, etc.
    Mashed Potato Bar
    Risotto Station

    Indian Buffet
    Navratan Korma
    Baingan Bharta
    Paneer Tikka
    Pulao
    Saffron Basmati Rice
    Naan, chutneys, raita, etc.

    Sweet Shots
    Kheer
    Mango-Passion Fruit Mousse
    Nutella-Banana Mousse
    (+1 more flavor, not sure yet)

    And cake, of course!
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